Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 357 Xin Qiji Learns to Operate an Excavator! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

After leaving Xiaopenglai, Zhou Yi arrived at the construction site of the courtyard. After the subbase was laid, the lines could be laid out and the foundation made tomorrow. Next, the soil would be backfilled, and then the outline of the entire house would be revealed.

Wu Zetian stood in the middle of the construction site and took a series of photos. It was her first time participating in building a house, and she found everything very novel.

Seeing Zhou Yi approaching, she carefully stepped over the ditch and came to his side:

"I heard from the villagers that this foundation is big enough to build a three-story house. Does the immortal prefer a multi-story house or a single-story house?"

The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi) is characterized by its adaptability and contentment with whatever comes its way.

"Either way is fine. When there's not enough room here, we'll build a small building next door. You can live in a bungalow if you want, or an apartment building if you want."

Wu Zetian and Zhou Yi held hands tightly:

"Wherever the immortal resides, I will reside there. You won't find me troublesome, will you?"

"Of course not. You're so beautiful, just looking at you is a pleasure and a delight to the soul... What about Yan'er and Rui'er? Did they sneak off to play?"

"No, they're doing their homework. They get a cartoon episode as a reward for finishing it. When can they go to school?"

"Let's talk about going to school after they've mastered the knowledge up to the third grade."

Zhou Yi felt there was no rush to go to school, since he didn't plan to have the two of them take the entrance exams for Tsinghua or Peking University anyway. They could just get a degree and go back to Hunyuan Palace to become Taoist priests... Of course, if there was an opportunity, they could go to a Taoist academy to get some experience, so that it would be more in line with their major.

Wu Meiniang asked:
"I've never been to university, will you look down on me?"

Zhou Yi patted her hand and said:
"How could that be? Some universities are a mess these days. If you actually study there for four years, you might come back and punch me twice. Who would I be able to complain to then?"

Wu Zetian smiled gently and rested her head on Zhou Yi's shoulder:

"You're joking, Immortal Master. I would never have the heart to hit you."

In the evening, Zhou Yi roasted some Sichuan peppercorn powder, preparing to make some pepper and salt layered pancakes and meat patties, and also to cook a hot and sour soup to help with sweating and cut through the greasiness, and to dispel dampness.

As soon as the layered pancakes came out of the pan, Zhao Rui came running, drawn by the aroma:

"Master, may I taste it to check if it's salty enough?"

Zhou Yi cut the layered cake into small pieces and placed them on a plate:

"Let everyone have a taste, don't just eat it yourself."

The little maid ran into the Sanqing Hall with a plate in her hand, first placed it in front of the statues of the Three Pure Ones as an offering, and then carried it to the room for Wu Meiniang and Zhao Yan to taste.

Dinner was ready, and the family was sitting in the back hall, about to eat, when Xin Qiji suddenly crept over:
"Master, so you were here! When I went to the courtyard, the house was gone! It gave me quite a fright..."

Zhao Yan obediently brought over a set of bowls and chopsticks. Xin Qiji thanked her, served himself a large bowl of hot and sour soup, then sat down and picked up a meat pie to eat dinner together.

The Book of Changes says:

"More and more people are coming to Hunyuan Palace, and the small courtyard is becoming too small, so we're expanding it... Has the ventilation system been installed over there?"

Xin Qiji nodded:
"Everything is installed. I came today to learn how to use an excavator... Is the excavator in the yard a new one you bought?"

“He’s from the neighborhood down the mountain. Tomorrow, put on your Taoist robe and learn from him. Once you’ve learned, I’ll buy you an electric excavator so you can level the ground day and night.”

Transforming wasteland into modern, standardized farmland requires leveling the land and removing tree roots and other debris, a rather tedious process that excavators can do very well.

Once the farmland has been leveled, a reservoir needs to be built to artificially raise the water level, so that the farmland can be irrigated by gravity flow.

The reason why the Qin Dynasty was able to stand out in the Warring States period was because of the excavation of the Zheng Guo Canal, which allowed many lands in Guanzhong to be irrigated by gravity flow, resulting in a large harvest of grain... With more grain, the Qin Dynasty naturally produced outstanding people.

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System was also built in Sichuan, allowing river water to flow into the fields, thus earning it the title of "Land of Abundance".

If you want to harvest more grain, you have to do everything you can to irrigate it. With enough water, the crops will naturally grow vigorously.

Xin Qiji said:
“The disciples have already planned the canal digging project for the winter. In the past two days, dozens of people have come to join us with their families. The propaganda team we sent out has been effective.”

It's a good thing that people are coming to join us. Zhou Yi thinks we should increase our publicity efforts. When Wanyan Liang marches south, it would be best to gather tens of thousands of people so that we can build up our base and start recruiting soldiers like a snowball.

Wu Zetian said to him:
“A few days ago, Emperor Gouchen bestowed upon me a leaf, which allows me to travel back and forth at least five times a day. If you need it, I will give it to you after I finish using it.”

Xin Qiji asked:
What does "at least five round trips" mean?

"When I tested it, the leaves would fade in color by the fifth time I came back, and I wasn't sure if I could come back again, so I didn't dare to continue trying."

Xin Qiji felt that five times a day was enough; he could quickly procure a considerable amount of grain. If other worlds needed it, he could even "lend" it out—it was all donated by the Jin Dynasty, so why not use it? After the meal, the Zhao sisters, Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui, very considerately cleared the dishes, Wu Meiniang cleaned the stove, and Zhou Yi gave Xin Qiji a box of mooncakes.
"We just celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival here, let's have a piece together, it's a belated reunion."

"Thank you for your kind words, my esteemed teacher!"

Xin Qiji ate a mooncake, then sat cross-legged in the brightly lit Sanqing Hall with his tablet computer, intently watching videos about excavator operation and maintenance to learn in advance so he could study faster the next day.

After Wu Meiniang finished cleaning up the kitchen utensils, she led the two sisters, Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui, back to their room to study elementary school knowledge.

Zhou Yi returned to his room, opened his black notebook to check if he had accumulated any merit points in the past two days, and was then stunned by the numerous notes he received:

Xue Ne led an army of 30,000 to conquer Tibet, vowing to use Tibetans to build five mounds of skulls. Merit +10

Li Ji led his army to capture Xuantu County, annihilating several thousand Goguryeo troops, earning him +30 merit points.

Xue Wanche led his army to kill 5,000 Goguryeo soldiers, earning him +30 merit points.

[Li Ji sets fire to Gaimu City, causing great fear throughout Goguryeo. Merit +30]

[Zhang Jian used drones to uncover the Goguryeo trap, annihilating the entire Goguryeo army, earning him +30 merit points.]

Zhang Shigui ambushed and annihilated the Goguryeo army, and used the Goguryeo corpses to build a mound of corpses, earning him +50 merit points.

【…】

The notes made Zhou Yi's blood boil—the war against Goguryeo had finally broken out!

Although the early Tang Dynasty had no shortage of famous generals, there were still differences between them. Take Li Jing for example; his skill in commanding battles was clearly a level above others.

This series of attacks killed over 40,000 Goguryeo people, while the Tang army that went into battle only numbered 40,000 in total.

To achieve such great results at the very beginning of the battle truly makes him worthy of being a military genius who excels at mobile annihilation warfare; his methods are truly exceptional.

The merits that Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui had used up by bringing them to Hunyuan Palace were all returned by Li Weigong.

This is just the appetizer in the war against Goguryeo; the real feast is yet to come.

At this rate, we might actually be able to take down Goguryeo before winter... Once Wu Zetian arrives in Liaodong, she must have the Empress tell Li Jing to eradicate evil completely and not to be soft-hearted towards the Goguryeo people.

We'll occupy the territory we conquer and start planting potatoes next year. By then, we'll have wiped out all the Khitans, Silla people, Baekje people, Shiwei people, Mohe people, and so on.

Seeing that his merit had returned to seven jin, Zhou Yi thought that if he brought people again next time, he should exchange all the available spells and skills in advance, leaving only one or two taels of merit.

Anyway, those spells can be used anytime, and exchanging one coin of merit for someone is almost like having no cost... It really is necessary to exploit the bug. If you don't exploit the bug, wouldn't all that merit be wasted?

The next morning, Zhao Wei came to check on the solidification of the subbase. Zhou Yi led Xin Qiji, who was dressed in a Taoist robe, to find him and asked Zhao Wei to teach him. He didn't need advanced skills, just enough to understand how to handle earthwork.

Zhao Wei immediately started calling him "brother" and before long, the two became very familiar with each other, exchanging various fishing tips.

Wu Aiguo began leading his men to cut steel bars, and the next step was to lay the foundation, which required steel cages.

While he was busy here, Zhou Yi led Liu Lei to consecrate the God of Wealth in the God of Wealth Temple. Nine days later, the gas station would have the God of Wealth presiding over it.

After finishing that matter, Zhou Yi received a phone call. Li Jiadu in Lushan County wanted to build a local earth god temple and commission a stone statue of the God of Fortune. They hoped Zhou Yi could go and take a look at the site to discuss the cost.

Zhou Yi originally thought that building the house would be a huge financial burden, but to his surprise, business came in as soon as construction began: two statues of gods and a local temple. The income was enough to cover the initial investment in building the house.

If another similar business comes along, the money can cover the costs of renovations and home appliances.

To prevent any unforeseen circumstances in the business, Zhou Yi instructed Wu Meiniang to keep an eye on the house. He then drove to Lijia Ferry in Lushan County to survey the feng shui, confirmed that there were no problems, and signed an agreement with the other party regarding the construction of the temple.

There used to be a local earth god temple in Lijia Ferry, but it collapsed. Some people in the town had been to Sanlizhuang and thought the newly built earth god temple was nice. The elderly would have a place to chat, and they could set off firecrackers to make it more lively during festivals. So they came up with this idea.

The townspeople were very enthusiastic and quickly raised 200,000 yuan in cash, which they handed over to Zhou Yi in the hope of getting a local earth god statue for Lijia Ferry to bless them with good weather and abundant harvests.

After the contract was signed, Zhou Yi arranged for a local construction team to start construction. The blueprints were already available; they just needed to follow the style of Sanlizhuang.

As for the stone statue, that's even simpler. Just tell Uncle Ming that it will definitely be delivered before the Earth God Temple is built, so there's no need to "borrow" it from the ancient world.

For the next two days, Xin Qiji was learning how to operate an excavator at Hunyuan Palace, and the construction of his new house was proceeding smoothly. Meanwhile, the beautiful Xi Shi finally arrived in Linzi, the capital of Qi, on her bicycle.

She was tall, and when she waited at the city gate to enter the city, she was surrounded by people. Several people looked at Xi Shi with obvious abnormality, and then left in a hurry to go to the Prime Minister's Mansion.

Xi Shi noticed the strange behavior of these people, but paid no attention. Instead, she pushed her bicycle, paid the entrance fee she had obtained on the road, and quickly walked into Linzi City...

(End of this chapter)